Transforming the Church

“I use “reformation” because, as I have said, these new wineskins appear to be at least as radical as those of the Protestant Reformation almost 500 years ago. “New” adds a contemporary spin to the name….to a significant extent, (its) changing the shape of Protestant Christianity around the world.” (Source: The New Apostolic Churches C. Peter Wagner)

From a chart at Cross Road created by Sarah Leslie; The Second Reformation – Transforming the Church.

1st REFORMATION:Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone. – The Bible is the only inspired and authoritative Word of God and is accessible to all, perspicuous and self-interpreting.

TRANSITION Phase: Promulgating anything NEW: interpretations of the Word, understandings, revelations, a “new move of the Spirit,” etc. Sloppy methods of biblical exegesis; bizarre eschatologies. The Gnostic idea that God is now bringing in “secret” or “new” teachings to the Church because it is becoming properly “aligned”

2nd REFORMATION; New revelation supersedes the Word of God. Vision-casting, goals, strategic plans, mission, vision, values, core goals and covenants supplant Scripture. Either: 1) a complete re-working of traditional theology to incorporate the new doctrines and practices, or 2) more New Age Bible versions, or 3) additional writings added to the 66 books of the Bible canon.

1st REFORMATION: Solus Christus: Christ alone – Jesus Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and man. No man or structure comes in between the believer and God. The priesthood of all believers.

TRANSITION Phase: “Emergent” doctrines about ecclesiology, including a broader definition of “church” in the context of the “spheres” of culture. New ideas about “laity,” new structures for accountability, new mediators. Extreme leadership focus, everyone trained to be a leader.

2nd REFORMATION: A new authority structure that is hierarchical… Believers must submit, in the context of a restructured church, to apostolic leadership. Replicating churches by “cellular DNA,” using sophisticated psycho-social marketing techniques and coercion.

1st REFORMATION: Sola Gratia: Grace alone – Salvation comes by grace only, not through any merit on the part of the sinner; an unearned gift.

TRANSITION Phase: Salvation becomes a mere decision, a “just say yes” to Jesus. Accelerated “conversion” rates happen as a result of group dynamics, psycho-social marketing techniques, peer pressure or indoctrination. Salvation is measurable.

2nd REFORMATION: Salvation mandatory and externally judged by social ideals. Enforced submission to “Christ” and the “Kingdom” rule on earth. Every one who does not bow the knee to “King Jesus” is guilty of a capital crime.

TRANSITION Phase: Setting up criteria and standards to achieve “measurable results” in all “spheres” of Christian living. A holistic Christianity that incorporates good deeds (works) which are monitored and assessed for results. Rewards for good works, penalties for noncompliance.

2nd REFORMATION: Faith and good works combined yield justification. Sanctification is good works. “Fruits” are measurable and assessed. “Whatever It Takes” – i.e., the ends justify the means.

TRANSITION Phase: Believers must assist God. Believers must manifest God’s glory, hasten His coming, build His Kingdom, bring transformation, and take the “blessing” to all nations of the earth.

2nd REFORMATION: Believers are Christ “incarnate,” the manifest sons of God, “co-redeemers” and “co-creators.” Critical mass, synergy and synchrony will usher in Christ. A new world order of peace, prosperity and harmony called “Christ’s Kingdom.”

TRANSITION Phase: Church and State “collaborate.” Fulfilling the Great Commission becomes a spiritual/political mandate.

2nd REFORMATION: A Church State. “As in heaven, so on earth.” Nations are corporate persons to be transformed through “discipling.”

**

What do you see? I see evidence of the Church being somewhere between the transition stage and the 2nd reformation, in most instances.

“Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!… Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” – Ezekiel 13: 3, 10

In reality the first reformation was the one Constantine wrought, with the monster we now know as the Roman Catholic..[ universal Church]…emerging ; a church in which the world is dominated by the authority of man , along with the hideous self proclaimed authority of their hierarchy.

This is the only thing that the NAR has to do with historical reformation…and , if the fathers of the reformation that stemmed from the liberation birthed by Luther were alive today, they too would be hunted , murdered and burnt by the same spirit alive and well in this new Reformation; primarily because they would most assuredly annul these pretenders self proclaimed authority as being UNSCRIPTURAL, UNGODLY, AND STEALING THE GLORY DUE TO JESUS ALONE.

” What do you see? I see evidence of the Church being somewhere between the transition stage and the 2nd reformation, in most instances…”

…..Sarah Leslie; “Transforming the Church…”

I see the scriptures fulfilled as the modern wolf is again gaining confidence to intimidate at Bethlehem’s gate. It’s creepy.

That second sentence sounds like Dilbert Zone corporate management blather. What happens when your boss comes back from some seminar with his head filled with hair brained notions. Too many pop management books.It’s also exactly what you get, with exactly that rhetoric, when church is treated as an industry. And it is treated that way. There’s vertical market software aimed at churches. A quick google search will get you half a dozen church “trade rags”, church “consultants” and more “sermon in a can” sites than you can shake a stick at.

Yes, it struck a nerve. Our church leadership started in on the consultant/vision casting stuff 3 or 4 years ago. I grit my teeth when I encounter it.

That second sentence sounds like Dilbert Zone corporate management blather. What happens when your boss comes back from some seminar with his head filled with hair brained notions.

Yes, it struck a nerve. Our church leadership started in on the consultant/vision casting stuff 3 or 4 years ago.

I left a Church 8 years ago because they brought this stuff in Lee. You mentioned its like your boss coming back with it from a seminar. That’s what happened at my old church–the 2 pastor’s began making frequent trips out of State to certain Church conferences etc, and coming back with all new weird ideas which they began implementing.

My family and i hung in for another year, but finally could not take anymore.

I saw a large pasture with very many sheep. All of a sudden, from
every direction and from all over, came wolves upon the herd, mixing
themselves amongst the sheep. Neither the shepherds nor the shepherd
dogs (of utmost importance) sounded any alarm.
They lay on the floor as if hypnotized.
There was just a bit of panic within the herd.
The sheep did notice that something was wrong, but they took no serious note
of what was happening. They just continued grazing in a relaxed manner.
The shepherds and the shepherd dogs on the other hand noticed nothing.

As I observed closely, I saw the wolves, which had fangs like
snakes in their mouths, tweak (pinch or prick) the sheep on their buttocks.
These twitched briefly, and then continued their relaxed grazing.
After a short while, the wolves ran from the herd, withdrawing themselves
again into the mountains, without having stolen a sheep or inflicted any
visible harm on them.

On seeing all these things, I thought to myself. ‘This is not at all possible,
that wolves would come amongst sheep and not harm them. This is out of
character! Then as the wolves left the sheep, I saw all of a sudden the
leader of the wolf pack, together with his whole wolf followership on a high
cliff. It was like a great beast; a monster.
Then the wolves began to howl and yelp.
The shepherd, shepherd dogs and all the sheep were terrified, shivering and
shocked.

And the leader of the pack began, like a demon, to speak with a deep human
voice. “My dear shepherds, dogs and all my dear sheep. You now belong to us.
We have you completely in our hands.
We were amongst you, without your noticing anything. We worked
amongst you in disguise. We even inoculated you with a “serum” that makes you
now ours. You are all, as at now, bearing our “mark”.
We have also inoculated you with our spirit and data, without your having been
aware. There is now no more escape for you. The whole flock is now under our
control.

I then said in my spirit “No! The Lord is my shepherd. I will have nothing to
do with the devil and his demons. I will not have them as my shepherds”.
Then spoke the leader of the wolf pack even further with a sneer on his face,
saying “the sheep here ate and slept. Your bellies and welfare was
more important to you.

Now hear what this demon said to me very clearly: We have now come to take
revenge for our man of the Gadarenes. (See Matt 5:1-17) Back then, your Lord
cast us out of him, and we had to flee into sweine and spring into the abyss.
Now though, we have recovered and are strong enough to leave our
cursed dwellings again. We have therefore returned from the abyss to take
revenge against him (Jesus) and his works. These sheep all grazing here have
been infected by our demons from the abyss. They can no longer escape.
They belong to us absolutely.

I was shocked!
===========
Here, God spoke to me saying ‘my son, every person will be asked
to compulsorily take immunization against the swine flu in the next few days.
This is a disguise. They will in the process be infected with demons from the
abyss; all who do not have my spirit and my seal upon them.
Yes, it will be such that that they will receive a deadly spirit inoculated
into them. This will allow the wolves do with them what they like.
Whoever does not follow them, antagonises or stands against them in any way,
will be eliminated at the touch of a button.

For such will there be no more escape from them.
Yes it is true, my son says the Lord. These cursed spirits will arise again
out of the abyss and return through the ‘swine’ to continue their mischief
amongst the people who neither know nor follow me. I however, with my church
will do same as then. We will depart from that area. So will those demons
from the abyss exterminate one third of humanity.

Then said the Lord to me further.
But you, my children, who follow me, must be bold and brave, and say NO!
Do not allow yourselves to be pricked and inoculated.
You must consistently trust me.
I will take you with me to the other shore, and we will continue there.
For you my children, life goes on quite normally.
You are my sheep. You hear my voice and follow me. And I send you as sheep
amongst wolves. Warn all my children and all men of good will against this
worldwide compulsory inoculation. It appears harmless. It is not!

It is more the return on the ancient demons of the abyss. Warn everyone!
Even when you are termed “paranoid” and “terrorist”. You are my children,
and my people. You are holy. You should therefore have no other ‘stigma’ in
your bodies. Your body is a temple for my holy spirit, and not a secret
dwelling for demons, which had been cast out by me, from which I delivered
you, says the Lord. I am passing on this message as it was given me.

Dear friends,we are right in the end times. Watch quite carefully, what
happens to you and your children. The devil is, and remains a liar. Und he has
no good intentions. I was shaken, when God showed me this vision with the
swine, in connection with the whole thing about immunization against swine
flu.

The believers are about to undergo the end times test, where will be shown,
whether we have enough resistance power, enough to say NO.
You are not defenceless. God gave you his Holy Spirit and the whole armour
(see Ephesians 6: 16-17). These you will now need and must soon make use of.
If you are not yet a true child of God, repent! Be baptized and be filled the
Holy Spirit, so that the seal of God will be upon your life
(Ephesians 1:1,13, 4:30 and Revelations 7:3&4) and you cannot be touched for
the devil.

David Wilkersons’ message An eclipse of faith is what
God is saying to the Church today. Among other things,
because people are broken, and there is a lot of broken
people in the Church today, but if you allow the Lord to
address the problems in your life than your faith in him
will stand. The Bible is the answer, from it you will find
everything you need to equip your self with the task at
hand. Speaking of wolves

The only sure way to know the enemy is to study the
original article ( The Bible ). The Bible is the absolute
moral standard. We need nothing else. We dont have
to converse with demons to gain knowledge, there is
no higher degree of learning ( ah hem elite… ism ).
There is absolutely nothing to be taught or learned
or felt outside of what is all ready revealed in scripture.
In regards to Pauls third heaven revelation. The Bible
as a whole all ready makes the reader aware of what
heaven is going to be like, and the elaborate architecture
of the kingdom of Heaven, so why would I want to go.
For what purpose would I like that vision. What is our
primary purpose on the face of the Earth?
The answer is the Great Commission To spread the
gospel throughout the Earth. If my motive is something
else other than the preaching of the gospel to everyone
on Earth than it is not the right motive, and God will not
be the author, nor will he be the means in which such
a vision is granted.
Another question I would have for you is why would I
want to see the Lord with my own eyes, to have a
physical encounter with Jesus Christ himself. There
are a lot of people out there that think that such a vision
is required to be SOMEBODY… ohh wee.
No I can promise you that those that have truly seen the
Lord will not tell anyone about it, and by the way I have not
seen the Lord. He illustrated this point in Thomas
Jn 20.29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed: blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet believe.
I question my motives for wanting this encounter with the
Lord because I believe in him already, and what point
would it prove, because he has already given me all
things pertaining to life and godliness. My destiny, my
ministry… my life has already been laid out before I was
born, so there is nothing that I can DO to earn the things
im going to do in this life for him. Faith alone in him is
all I need, my heart is settled, my fate is sealed.
Why would I want to go to heaven when im going there
anyway and I wont want to come back! That is like me
giving my daughter the most expensive toy that she has
always wanted but didnt have the money for and than
to present it to her ( I mean actually giving it to her) and
then telling sorry but you cant have this right now.
I would love to see heaven right now, but if I am going
to loose sight of the millions going to hell than it aint
worth it. Perhaps some can handle it but not me.
Speaking of Hell, if we do not preach this word as the
apostle Paul preached it than that is certainly our
destination. Paul preached Jesus Christ and him
crucified, he told us of the importance of the resurrection
of the dead, and about the Lords’ own resurrection and
how that is the core of which the whole Christian faith
is built on. The resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ, if
it did not happen our faith would be in vain, but the fact
is that it did and if you believe in this than you are born
again! You do have to repent of your sins, and he forgives
you… That is it. That is how simple it is to getting saved.
Jesus Christ is God, and that is important to know that
because there are a lot of people that say they speak for
Jesus but they really dont, so it is important to know your
God so you wont bow down to others. As far as material
things, even money, for me the most important thing that
is in my life is the Word of God. If I could I would memorize
the whole thing because there will come a day we wont have the Holy Word at our finger tips.
The one message that God wants us to here is his love
toward us, and that he is not angry. Our faith is being tested
and if we blow it, its not the end of the world God Loves you.
God bless you all

Joyner and Bentley’s new ‘doctrine’ they are working on concerning marriage was one…

The terms, Critical mass, synergy, synchrony and cellular DNA also got my attention. These and other such words and terms, pepper the language of many of the ‘prophesies’ and teachings coming from todays self-proclaimed prophets and apostles.

Thank you PJ good article or you could just say whatever these
guys say just do the opposite and you’ll be fine lol.
Thank you again for your unadulterated knowledge of what
the truth is. If everyone would devote them selves to reading
the Bible as you do INCLUDING myself than I dont think we
would have a lot of the problems in our lives that we have.
Thank you God bless

The Way Home

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls....."Jeremiah 6:16

"Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set"Proverbs 22:28

The Gospel

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."

Study of Dispensationalism

"But there is further reason, and a pressing one today, why we should write upon our present subject, and that is to expose the modern and pernicious error of Dispensationalism. This is a device of the Enemy, designed to rob the children of no small part of that bread which their heavenly Father has provided for their souls; a device wherein the wily serpent appears as an angel of light, feigning to "make the Bible a new book" by simplifying much in it which perplexes the spiritually unlearned. It is sad to see how widely successful the devil has been by means of this subtle innovation." - by Arthur Pink

Sola Dei Gloria’s Position Concerning

What Is and is Not Replacement Theology?

"It is time to speak out because Christian Zionism has become a formidable and dangerous movement. By portraying the modern state of Israel as God's chosen people on earth, the role of the church has been reduced in the eyes of many to providing moral and biblical justification for Israel's colonization of Palestine. Those who oppose her are demonized. While not all Christian Zionists endorse the apocalyptic views of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, the movement as a whole is nevertheless leading the West, and the church with it, into a confrontation with Islam. Using biblical terminology to justify a pre-emptive global war merely reinforces stereotypes, fuels extremism, incites fundamentalism and increases the likelihood of a nuclear holocaust." ~Zion's Christian Soldiers

Covenants: The Train

Early Church Fathers

The Journey Project

Sermons

Preparation

"I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the great tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next."